phuqueue wrote:I agree that if 50 Republicans vote for the nominee anyway, it doesn't make sense to punish red state Dems who latch onto a fait accompli. No Dem should be the deciding vote though.

As for Collins, while she says she won't use a "litmus test", she does want a candidate with good "judicial temperament" and a "respect for precedent".

That's code for "Wouldn't overturn Roe v. Wade"

That has literally never been code for "Wouldn't overturn Roe v. Wade" on any other nominee she's ever voted on. If the new judge is the fifth vote to dismantle Roe, Collins will have voted yes on four of those five (with Thomas predating her Senate tenure).

Barack Obama wrote:“The Democrats’ job is not to exaggerate; the Democrats’ job is not to simply mimic the tactics of the other side. All we have to do is work hard on behalf of that truth. And if we do, we’ll get better outcomes.”

Counterpoint: Obama spent eight years doing this and look where we are now.

Not that I think the Dems should "exaggerate" or lie -- and I don't think they need to, either. In a vacuum, if you strip away everybody's dumb tribal identities and all the bullshit, Dem policies are more popular than GOP policies. But they should absolutely "mimic the tactics" of the GOP in other respects, because the GOP has proven those tactics work. For instance, if by some miracle, the Dems retake the Senate (unlikely) before a new justice is confirmed (even more unlikely), they should blockade any nominee, just as McConnell did. If they retake the entire federal government in 2020, they should pack the court and admit DC and Puerto Rico as new states. They tried "when they go low, we go high," and it was an astonishing failure. It's time for them to try "when they take off the gloves, we put on the brass knuckles."

I absolutely agree with the last part of your post. The game has changed.

And WTF about Kennedy's son working for Deutsche Bank and Donald Trump? You can't make this shit up!

Yeah the entire administration is just infested with corruption. So many of these people belong in prison. And hopefully some of them will end up there.

Top Pence aide Nick Ayers denies breaking the law while running Greitens campaign

Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff denies allegations in a newly filed ethics complaint that he violated Missouri campaign finance laws while helping to run former Gov. Eric Greitens’ 2016 campaign.

Nick Ayers served as Greitens' top political consultant in 2016 and was later paid by Greitens' nonprofit, A New Missouri Inc. His protégé, Austin Chambers, was Greitens’ top adviser during his 17 months as governor.
...
In a complaint filed Tuesday with the Missouri Ethics Commission against Greitens' campaign and nonprofit, Ayers is accused of helping both entities commit multiple campaign finance violations — most notably illegally working to conceal the identity of donors.
...

I heard something on the radio today about this Q conspriacy "Qanon" - Its crazy what these people are believing and these Q people can basically take anything and spin it into there own conspiracy/narrative, its basically taking the Alex Jones show to the mainstream - One topic in the Conspiracy is that The GOP lost the Alabama special election for Jeff Sessions’s Senate seat on purpose — a plan devised years ago to reveal the use of fraudulent voting machines and, ultimately, take down none other than George Soros. Or the Rothschilds. Or the Illuminati.

There are numerous accusations floating around the QAnon world. Some suggest Clinton and Obama are in cahoots with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Others suggest they, along with Hollywood figures and other world leaders, are participants in a global pedophile ring

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap released a trove of documents Friday afternoon that he says show that the leaders of a disbanded presidential commission went into an investigation of voter fraud with predetermined outcomes.

Dunlap, a Democrat, served on the commission but filed suit against the federal government for the documents after he said he was left out of key discussions related to the commission, which was headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

“Contrary to what we were promised, these documents show that there was, in fact, a pre-ordained outcome to this commission to demonstrate widespread voter fraud,without any evidence to back it up,” Dunlap said in a letter to Pence and Kobach.

Not a lot to predict in a primary election. Not sure how Prop A will turn out. The ballot wording itself favors a "YES" vote. But I have only seen "vote NO" signs. So it's probably a matter of who's more passionate to turn out. If that's the case, the results typically favor people who vote no or against something over people who would vote a "casual yes" or are undecided. So I suspect Prop A will fail. KC Question 1 probably passes.

beautyfromashes wrote:This thread is now worse than the Downtown Stadium/ Save our Stadiums thread. It makes me want to shoot myself in the head everytime I see it turn red. Congratulations ATKC, you now = kcdcchef.

Anyone who has lived in New York City knew Trump was a con artist. It's his hometown, and only 14 percent of Manhattan voted for him, and that is where he lived. Only 19 percent of all of New York City voted for him, and that's his hometown.

They've had non stop coverage on her since she was abducted but I always thought it was odd because people go missing everyday, then it turns out the person who did it was an illegal, which fits the "build the wall" narrative. The left have done this as well with gun control. Doesn't this stuff make you stop and think something isn't right? I hate even thinking things like this might happen, but I can't help myself. I have a feeling they always knew who did it from the get go, they just wanted to time it at the exact moment to take away from other news and get people focused on this.

The baseline level of public interest in young white women going missing is orders of magnitude higher than it is for anyone else, so there's that.

I'm curious how your both-sidesing comment holds in this instance - there's not all that much to say about mass murders/our embarrassingly high homicide rate other than "maaaaaaybe we should reconsider how we're applying that 'well-regulated milita' clause in the 2A". It isn't like The Left hivemind is scheduling gun deaths to occur when it's politically convenient.

The formula is pretty simple: when a regular citizen does the Mass Murder at a school/public space the results are protesting and marches by the left and silence (Thoughts and Prayers) on the right. When its an illegal immigrant or Muslim committing a murder/mass killing then its secure the borders/end muslim immigration/don't allow them to enter our country by the right and silence (Thoughts and Prayers) by the left.

The formula is pretty simple: when a regular citizen does the Mass Murder at a school/public space the results are protesting and marches by the left and silence (Thoughts and Prayers) on the right. When its an illegal immigrant or Muslim committing a murder/mass killing then its secure the borders/end muslim immigration/don't allow them to enter our country by the right and silence (Thoughts and Prayers) by the left.

Seems to be a bit of a false equivalency - although I'm biased. I think you can draw a pretty straight line between guns and violence/homicide. While there is no direct correlation between illegal immigration and violence/homicide. At least statistically. Obviously there is a correlation in this case, but that's just cherry-picking IMO.

If Beto loses does he have a chance to run as president in 2020? He seems like the best compromise between establishment democrats and Bernie democrats. I just don't see any other strong candidate by the left that can unite them. He seems to have enthusiasm nationwide even though he probably won't win in a month

It's hard to run and win as president if you have lost your most recent political race. Beto will also no longer be a congressman if he loses the race for Senate, since he is vacating the seat to run for the Senate. Sure he could run, but he's be running against several people with a lot more name recognition.